Danny White corrects ESPN report of Tennessee-Nebraska football series being canceled

Danny White had a correction to make on social media on Friday morning. Tennessee and Nebraska didn’t cancel their home-and-home series set for 2026 and 2026. Nebraska canceled it. 

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that “Tennessee and Nebraska are canceling their upcoming football series,” which the Tennessee athletic director corrected.

“Correction: Tennessee is not canceling the series,” White wrote. “Nebraska did. We are very disappointed that they didn’t want to play these games, especially this close to 2026.”

Thamel reported that “a driver” in the cancelation of the series was Nebraska wanting to add a home game in 2027, with the Cornhuskers expecting to have a reduced capacity at Memorial Stadium due to renovations.

Correction: Tennessee is not canceling this series. Nebraska did. We are very disappointed that they didn’t want to play these games, especially this close to 2026. https://t.co/uSz7kAXk94

— Danny White (@AD_DannyWhite) February 21, 2025

Tennessee was scheduled to play at Nebraska on September 12, 2026

Tennessee was scheduled to go to Nebraska in Week 2 of the 2026 season, on September 12, after opening the season at home against Furman. The Cornhuskers were scheduled to come to Knoxville on Sept. 11, 2027. 

The Vols currently have Western Michigan scheduled for September 18 on the 2027 schedule. Furman is the only other game currently scheduled for 2026.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” White told Volquest’s Brent Hubbs. “This series has been under contract for so long. We had been planning on playing it. For it to get cancelled this short notice we are extremely disappointed.”

The series agreed to in 2006 and was initially set for 2016 and 2017. It was moved to 2026 and 2027 when Tennessee agreed to play Virginia Tech in the Battle at Bristol at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The contract called for a $500,000 buyout, per game, to get out of the series. 

“The buyout implications need to be much steeper,” White said. “This is such an old contract. It was postponed multiple times. If it had been postponed when I was here, I would have asked for an increase in the buyout to postpone it.

“I don’t know the history if we were requesting to push it back or if Nebraska was. The buyout terms are reflective of a contract that’s 20 years old. They are not steep enough to dissuaded this kind of decision making from our opponent.”

Vols have future opponents scheduled through 2030

Other future opponents for Tennessee include West Virginia in Charlotte in 2028, then a home-and-home with Washington in 2029 and 2030, starting in Knoxville then going to Seattle. 

The 2025 season starts against Syracuse in a neutral-state game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on August 30. Tennessee’s home opener is September 6 against ETSU. The Vols also host UAB on September 20 and New Mexico State on November 15 in the two other non-conference games. 

Tennessee opens SEC play at home against Georgia on September 13 and goes to Mississippi State on September 27. Arkansas comes to Knoxville on October 11 and the Vols have back-to-back road games at Alabama on October 18 and at Kentucky on October 25.

Tennessee hosts Oklahoma on November 1, goes to Florida on November 22 and hosts Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale on November 29.

White said finding the right dates and “brands that make sense for us” is what makes scheduling on short notice such a struggle.

“We were able to get the home and home with Washington,” he said. “I think that’s going to be awesome later this decade. But that’s kind of how far out you need to be.We are looking at 5-8 years down the road where we want to be form a home and home standpoint and strength of schedule.”